With seven minutes remaining, Monday night’s game in Frankfurt was called due to fighting between the two teams. The referees lost control of the game and started calling technicals; the coaches requested the game be stopped. Maccabi had been leading by ten points.
By Amy Samin
Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon opened Monday’s game with Carlos Arroyo, Marcus Brown, Tre Simmons, Lior Eliyahu and Yaniv Green.
Just as in the previous game against
Simmons was hot from downtown, and Maccabi had a 13 – 8 lead with 5 minutes gone in the period.
A technical foul called on Brown helped keep the Germans in the game, but Maccabi was able to stay ahead, and the quarter ended with the Israelis leading, 21 – 17.
Green had an excellent quarter, especially on offense, until he and Eliyahu were replaced by Marcus Fizer and D’or Fischer.
A 6 – 2 run by the Germans helped them tie the score, then immediately take their first lead in the game, 26 – 25, in the early minutes of the second quarter.
Fischer was strong on defense, and Simmons played well on offense, both of which got Maccabi back on their feet and on the way to a 10 – 3 run which took the score to 33 – 29.
Fischer scored two plus a foul shot, taking Maccabi to a 36 – 32 lead with two and a half minutes left until halftime.
Maccabi stayed strong on offense, and stopped
A three pointer by the Germans closed out the half, with Maccabi still leading, 45 – 37.
Maccabi continued playing well as the second half opened, and took a 56 – 43 lead three minutes into the third quarter.
The Israelis looked great on offense, with Arroyo leading the team on fast breaks.
At the end of the quarter, the score stood at 63 – 47.
Fischer was a star on defense, with three blocked shots in the quarter.
Arroyo scored two three-pointers in a row.
As in the previous game, Maccabi was a little disorganized at the start of the final quarter, allowing the Germans to close the gap, 65 –
With Maccabi leading 65 – 55, the game was called due to fighting between players on both teams (Tal Burstein for Maccabi).
Players started getting called for technicals and tempers flared, the referees lost control of the game, and Maccabi decided to call the game, with seven minutes remaining on the clock.
Box Scores for Maccabi:
Green 13 points; Arroyo 12 points; Brown 11 points; Eliyahu 8 points; Burstein 7 points; Simmons and Fischer 5 points each; Fizer 4 points.
After the game, team manager Gur Shelef described the events of the fourth quarter: “Tal Burstein had a confrontation with one of the German players, and got called for unsportsmanlike conduct.
After that, he was also given a technical foul.
With the score 65 – 55, the coaches of both teams decided to call the game because the atmosphere was highly charged.”
